Saturday, August 10, 2013

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Infrastrate

Before I head out to this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza, here's our first post of the day, and it's this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! As always, this monthly feature looks at one or two inactive or broken up local metal/hard rock bands, with information on their run, material, biography, and some thoughts on them and their sound! Never hurts to be refreshed on old local bands, after all. This month's band hit a lot of success in the mid-2000s in both of their home bases, even if their full material is hard to find, so read on below for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile!
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Audio/Video: No live concert videos are known to be publically available from their run, but four songs of theirs are streamable on their PureVolume page! Two ("Hindsight" & "Smoke & Mirrors") were recorded at Cherry Valance Sound in August 2005 towards their debut and only EP "Phase I: Commencement" (which is unavailable in full online), while the other two ("Causal Nexus" & "Tyrannade") were likely recorded at Audio Valley Studios in Perth, Ontario in 2006 towards their unreleased second CD. I uploaded them to YouTube last year, and I've embedded "Hindsight" from their EP below, but give their songs a listen, and if you have or can find a copy of "Phase I: Commencement", let me know!

Info/Analysis:Launched locally in 2003, Infrastrate rose to solid prominence in the live Sault Ontario scene with numerous local concerts and original material during their first two years together, including shows at The Canadian Nightclub, Oddfellows Hall, and a slot at the June 2005 Heatwave outdoor concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion. They recorded their only EP "Phase I: Commencement" that August, and collectively relocated to Ottawa later that month to attend Carleton University, where they remained for the rest of their run. Their Ottawa tenure saw them play a number of concerts, sign with London label Laris Records (owned by Saultite Chris Rancourt), and begin work on a new album in 2006, but it was never released before they fell inactive by mid-2007. Though they moved from the area at their peak, Infrastrate blended metal, alternative rock, and progressive sounds to create an accessible but heavy sound with a lot of unique qualities, reminding me of bands like Sense of Truth, and it's a shame they didn't last longer! Solid musicians all around, with nice melodic singing from Joey Paciocco especially, so check out Infrastrate above and hopefully we'll learn more on them at some point!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! For the first time since May, next month's installment of this series will feature two bands due to the first band we randomly selected having only minimal public info, so next month, we'll be looking at defunct Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Blind Baby (featuring current members of Powerslug & Scofflaw) and late 2000s Sault Ontario experimental metal project Squirrelboy & The Smiling Giraffes (featuring local solo musician Chase Wigmore), so look out for that on or around September 10th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for upcoming concert previews tonight and our Swampstravaganza review tomorrow! Thanks everyone!